As anyone who is involved in sports activities such as running and the like will appreciate, it is very easy to sprain an ankle as a result of a simple mis-step. For this reason, high cut running shoes have been developed for use in sports such as basketball; the high top running shoe provides in advance over the low cut running shoe but still suffers from lack of support problems since the shoe is still not tight around the ankle and permits ankle movement relative to the shoe. Furthermore, the added material in a high cut running shoe increases costs which are lost when any other part of the shoe wears out.
Many athletes have their ankles taped in preparation of a sporting event. The taping is initially effective but within a relatively short period loses its effectiveness as the tape is stretched and weakened with use of the ankle.